Archive for the ‘Russian Team Championship 2008’ Category

Thank you, young Grandmaster Bu, for re-introducing a Stone Age Saemisch Attacking Scheme in the Russian Team Championship, 2008! The common thinking was “White can’t mate like that, it’s ridiculous and will backfire.” Bu re-interprets it to say “Attila the Hun Genghis Khan sweeps through the Russian Steppes, killing everything he sees.”

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 a6 7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2 Bd7 9. h4 h5 10. Bh6!? TN? Refreshingly barbaric and a move I have been unable to locate in prior games. GM Miles played 10. O-O-O b5 11. Bh6 and Jadoul reacted incorrectly with 11…Kh7?, missing 11…Bxh6 12. Qxh6 e5! 13. d5 Na5! with good counterplay. Miles won that game easily in 29 moves, Miles-Jadoul, Brussels 1986. In our current game, Attila the Hun enters the hunt directly for the black king. The player facing Bu is no slouch, by the way. But note how quickly he is swamped.

Position after 10. Bh6!? – is this plausible move a Theoretical Novelty?

10...e5 The usual reaction is to draw the queen away with 10…Bxh6 11. Qxh6 and then hit in the center. In this exact position, 10…Bxh6 11. Qxh6 b5!? might be the way to go. Black will need nerves of steel, facing such scary lines as 12. O-O-O e5! 13. g4 bxc4 14. Ng3 exd4 15. Bxc4 Ne5!, but after all this is a kings of opposite castling game and every tempo matters. Bringing the white queen close to the black king looks insanely risky but sometimes it’s the right thing to do in order to make white’s central control weaker.

12. Nd5?! Incredibly primitive. Did Bu feast on red meat that day or look forward to a feast after the game? Black immediately goes wrong.

12…Re8? Weeeeeak. Correct was, yes, you’ve guessed it, the dangerous looking 12…Bxh6! 13. Qxh6 bxc4. Black has everything under control. See the prior note with how to handle the blunder 14. g4? and also note that 14. dxe5 Nxe5 15. Nef4 accomplishes nothing after 15…Rb8 where black’s play is more effective than white’s.

13. g4? The circumspect 13. Bg5! leads to a sharp game with mutual chances. The text is part of white’s crazed overall approach. The fact that this Paleozoic approach works is quite surprising given the level of strength of his opponent.

13…hxg4 14. h5 Nothing else to do but this shouldn’t work.

14…gxf3 15. hxg6 fxg6 16. Nec3 Was this bizarre formation white’s chief attacking idea? Black obviously is now totally confuzzled and commits a horrific blunder in a position where he has a simple win.